Froomkin Watch

As Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander and others reported yesterday, The Washington Post has terminated my contract. So sometime in late June or early July, I'll be writing my last blog post here.

I'll have more to add later on, when I actually say goodbye and let you know where you can find me. But in the meantime, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the readers who have e-mailed, blogged, commented, tweeted and left notes on my Facebook page. Your kind words and support mean the world to me.

It's shortsighted of WaPo to fire Dan Froomkin, one of the best writers and synthesizers of information you had. He questioned the decisions at the highest level. He is a liberal it is clear, but when Pres Obama pulls some of the same tricks that Pres Bush pulled, he's right in there calling "Foul!".

I was in the past a NYTimes reader on a daily basis, and I was one of those that paid them the $50 for access to content when they had that experiment. I found Froomkin and he was a daily read, and that got me visiting other pages and writers. I would have been willing to pay for access to your paper as well, but with the firing of Froomkin and the hiring of Kristol (equally apalling, given his abyssmal track record as a pundit), I think I won't be calling the WaPo one of my daily reads any more. I do hope you reconsider your decision in this case.

Thanks for everything Dan, you'll still be read while the Post continues circling the drain. You seek out actual information and think about its significance. All that remains in the Post is the recycling of tired old arguments and positions, with precious little actual reporting beyond asking the same old people the same old questions. Let us know where to find you.

Please consider me a former reader of this publication also. I will continue to read Dan's contributions as long as they appear here, but once he is gone, so am I.

For a formerly great paper, this is the last straw. Like the commenter before me, I have supported paid subscription sites for news and commentary. I expect to find writing with an objective and well-reasoned basis, which Dan consistently provided. In recent years, the quality of reporting and commentary here has become increasingly biased toward conservative and corporatist points of view. If I wanted that, I would turn on the TV. Good luck Dan, Onward!

Doggone it (I had a sharper expletive in mind, but support the Post's policy of keeping profanity out of here). I'll be reading Dan wherever he turns up - whether I'll still be reading the WaPo is an open question (except for Ezra, of course). WaPo could lessen the pain of Dan's departure by cancelling Krauthammer and Will and adding a responsible conservative who actually respects objective reality and engages in good faith discourse (admittedly, the pickings are slim here, but there's gotta be someone).

Incredibly stupid decision by WaPo. Not only has Froomkin provided important information that no one else at the paper has covered -- not just important opinion, but pure unbiased information critical to the public's understanding of key issues -- his writing is lucid, accessible and never heavy-handed.

Meanwhile a pack of smarmy weasels ranging from Charles "Smirky" Krauthammer to Bill "My Constant Nervous Laughter Doesn't Really Cover the Fact that I'm a Fact-Free Hack" Kristol continue to thrive here with the same blather we can get from Fox News, and often do by the very same meme machines.

Shame!

Adios, Dan, you wonderful, significant voice. You have served us well.

We sincerely hope that Mr. Froomkin meets with much greater success after having left WaPo characterized by columnists endowed with an opulence of twaddle and a penury of sense.

Perhaps that ultra rightist he-hen Mr. Krauthammer will assume Mr. Froomkins role now; while we cannot guarantee as satisfactory or as fair a result as the most mourned Mr. Froomkin, the combustible rubbish and crass vapidities of that fulsome and plasticene mediocrity (Mr. Krauthammer) has never failed to amuse and appall.

Dan, I'm really very sorry to hear that. I've enjoyed your work on this site for years now and will miss your presence here greatly...but I look forward to following you wherever you might be going next.
all best, DB

Dan! I used to visit the WAPO site everyday for news etc. until they basically jumped on board the Iraq misadventure train, and whitewashed 10-15 other W disasters. But I could always count on you for the straight dish, and tough journalism (at least you asked the tough questions as a blogger that your "news" organization would not). Since 2003 I only visit WAPO for you and Toles. I will be sad to see you go, but these things always work out for the best and I am sure you will be better off without those pesky stuffed shirts to contend with. The paper that broke Watergate is a shadow of it's former self anyway. All the best!
Michael from Tuscaloosa

This is appalling! I've been a loyal reader of the Washington Post for years, but this development, along with the loss of Marc Fisher's excellent column, blog and online Metro chats gives me pause. I'm definitely not a fan of their right-wing editorial staff!

The post is making a terrible error in letting Dan go. In a paper that has suffered over the past several years, considering some of the current contributors, with a lack of accuracy and insightful opinion/blogging, it is an enormous mistake to fire Froomkin. The Post loses a bit credibility and a step in the market as it struggles to survive and compete in a changing media environment.

It's unfortunate the Post is so short sighted, Dan. In my opinion the Post's decision has little to do with your value than it has to do with how little the Post values itself. Their choice tells me more about them than about you.

Naturally, I want to know where you land. Removing your direct WaPo link from my bookmarks will be painfully sad. Your loyal readers should know they can also find you at Nieman Watchdog [dot] Org.

I look forward to your insightful commentary on Washington elsewhere in the future. I had little reason to visit the Post before, and less now.

Mr. Froomkin, I am looking forward to following you at your new home, wherever that may be. I think it should be clear to you, by now, from the posts you have received, and the response to the ombudsman, that there is a large contingent which finds the decision of WP management to be frankly stupid. I will be voting with my feet, or more accurately, my clicks.

This is truly appalling. The WaPo is little more than the Washington Times in faux-moderate drag. By dismissing its single most credible online contributor, it has announced its surrender to irrelevancy.

I'm shocked at WaPo's short-sightedness in not renewing your contract. The editorial board seems to be trying to corner the market on reactionary, neocon stooges, while purging all other points of view. Who'd next to go, Eugene Robinson? In any case, thanks for your fearless work over the last few years, shining the light of truth on the drek that was being fed the public by the Bush White House, and doing the same to keep the Obama White House honest as well. Please be sure to let us all know where we can catch you in the future, as those of us who admire what you've been doing value your contribution.

Dan, I am incredibly disappointed with the Post's decision. Your page was one of the highlights of my day, and your constant willingness to step beyond an evident political bias was greatly appreciated.

It is a sad day for journalism indeed when a piercing voice of reason is pushed aside in favor of a homogenous multiplicity of chicken-hawk bombastics spewing an increasingly predictable, unimaginative and unvarying theme of 1980s doctrine.

I will be keeping an eye on your site to give my support to whomever has the good sense to add you to their roster.

You are one of the main reasons I was able to preserve my sanity throughout the Bush years. Since then, you have been the only reason I continue to come to the WaPo website. As I have written to the ombudsman, I intend to delete the WaPo link from my bookmarks and read more meaningful sites instead. Who needs Gerson, Krauthammer, et.al.? I thank you for all your wonderful work and look forward to reading you elsewhere. Best of luck -- Stacy Spencer, NYC

Froomkin has been an essential part of my day (it was upsetting and disorienting for me when he would take off the odd long weekend).
I had no trouble adapting to his new format (thank heavens for high speed) but I noticed that there tended to be few comments on most posts. I think this is understandable since often what he was doing was sampling a variety of opinions on important subjects. this often didn't lend itself to heated/witty comments.

The above was what I posted on Benen's Political Animal. Dan, I hope you can give up your objective analysis of why this has been done, and quickly so as S. Emoto asked:"Is there any chance WaPo management would reconsider?" and the implicit: Is there anything your readership can do to help them correct their course of action.

Wow. I did not even know this was happening until I read it on Politico.com.
As more than one commenter here and blogger outside has pointed out, the recent right wing tilt of WaPost is sad and a little scary. I have seen articles from Marc Theissen, 'Reverend' Jerry Falwell Jr, and today we get Wolfowitz and Krauthammer beating up the President on his Iran stance. I agree with most of these comments - Goodbye Washington Post. I will shun you like I shun Fox News, The Washington Times, and other right-wing publications. I just never thought WaPost would come to this.

One thing I know for sure: Dan Froomkin, one of the few quality journalists left in this country, will survive and he will thrive. Dan Froomkin will be just fine. Too bad the same cannot be said for the Washington Post. To fire one of the few voices of reason left on its staff is an act of corporate suicide. As Dan proved again and again, he is not a partisan. He is a truthseeker. Too bad there's not a place for such an honest and compelling voice at the Post.

Looking at how far to the right the WP has now become, I'm not abit shocked they would fire Dan. I'm sure Murdock will be purchasing this rag that WP has become next. I couldn't believe wolfowitz was on WP for my last time reading of their drivel. I believe Wolfo and his like should be rendered (kidnapped) tortured, hopefully wrong, because you know if the subject dies, you've done it wrong. what a joke WP had become....

Are the people in charge at the Washington Post serious? They fire Dan Froomkin and then print something written by Paul Wolfowitz? They also regularly feature the uniformly erroneous opinions of Bill Krystol, who must be the one who taught Dan Quayle how to spell "potatoe." I think they're out of their freakin' neoconservative minds.

WaPo's gonna notice a severe drop in hits once you are gone, Dan. i will no longer be reading WaPo after you're gone. I have written the ombudsman about this pledge already: ombudsman@washpost.com
I'm sure you'll land at a place where they appreciate your analysis and value real reporting.

I agree completely with the posters before me: the Post is losing one of its finest, if not its very finest, columnist in Dan Froomkin. Dan's been very creative in using news sources and other online commentary to buttress and give differring viewpoints to his own commentary. I think he's been doing an excellent job of scrutinizing the administration.

I'll be another reader who'll be stopping by this site far more seldom, if ever, once Dan is gone. Breadth in viewpoint and journalistic diligence are two essential features of a vibrant press. In firing Dan, the Post is sacrificing some of both.

I'll be following Dan at niemanwatchdog.com , as well as wherever else he lands. Good luck, Dan.

You will be missed. It's sad to see good investigative journalism taking yet another hit. If we're not exposing the truth behind our leaders' words and actions on a daily basis, how are we ever supposed to notice, expose, and confront larger trends that truly threaten our democracy?

As one of the several reasons to follow the WaPo, and to keep it as my opening browser, the cancellation of WHW column by Dan Froomkin is more than a little disappointing. While I like having Krauth, Will and others to check out, I thought Mr. Froomkin did some solid reporting, investigation and I appreciated his editorial and commentary, both during and after the Bush years. This all reflects badly on the WaPo, and will likely spur me to more often go elsewhere. Best of luck to DF and his work at http://niemanwatchdog.org/, and I hope you land another job at joint more reliable than WaPo.

Your writings are insightful and enlighening and provide a much relied on voice for our frustrations with the White House, Congress and the media. This is another serious WaPo mistake and a devastating loss to your loyal readers.

I am certain, with the advantage of the internet, your valuable insight will continue to have impact. I am also sure your next position will be with a more worthy employer.

As for me this is another reason to drop my subscription with the WaPo.

Dear Dan, once you are gone from these pages, I will be too. What in the world are they thinking?

And on the day after the news of your termination broke, the WAPO adds insult to injury (to its readers) by publishing a double-shot of neo-con nonsense from Krauthammer and Paul Wolfowitz, neither of whom have been right about anything in years.

What a sad state of affairs.

Good luck to you Mr. Froomkin - where ever you land, I assure you we will all follow.

Dan! I just heard! So sorry to see you go. I always thought that your column was a good news compendium that pointed out the hot-button issues that I needed to know about FIRST. Thanks for all of your hard work. I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to your next adventure. Please keep us posted on where you go next!

Dan, I've been reading your column since 2004. It was the Zoloft I sorely needed during the Bush years. I wouldn't say that I can't believe that they let you go since it's obvious that WaPo is looking to the Fox news business model for their commentary section.

I would hope you find a new place online with Huffingtonpost or sumsuch place. Online news and commentary needs people like you to take the new media from mostly commentary and blogs to the new and effective mode of getting news that we desperately need. Let the stupid newspapers die, let the internet take over and give us the news we need and want.

Let me join the chorus of "What were they thinking?" Sad to see this column go -- I found it wonderfully informative. Really I'm finding less and less reason to read the Post these days. Mr. Froomkin, I'll be following you wherever you go.

You've got to be kidding right?
His was the only "must read" section on Washingtonpost.com. I only read your opinions/ editorials for laughs and much of what passes for political news reporting, well it is convenient not to have to go to all of the official government web sites for their press releases when you folks print them verbatim and then call it reporting.

The series about Walter Reed Hospital was the last thing written in your paper that actually called BS on the establishment and had a positive effect in the live of your readers and the community But that was more than a year ago! You should be ashamed to call yourselves journalists and if your industry is in a death spiral I don't think you can blame it on the web. Look in the mirror instead.

I am at a loss. I really enjoy your column, read it everyday and discuss and debate its contents with my friends. I am not sure what the Post is up to, but I have been a subscriber to the print edition for 20 years and an avid reader of the online edition for as long as it has been posted. It just seems they are doing everything thing they can to drive me away. I will hopefully see your column posted elsewhere. It is the Washington Post's loss and not yours. One nice thing about the internet is you can follow your favorite columnists/writers around more easily. Hope they realize that.

Count me among the jaw-droppers. I'm appalled. Disgusted. That leaves only Toles and Robinson. Shame shame SHAME on the Post, the once-proud paper of Woodward and Bernstein. How have the mighty fallen.

The Post really seems intent on becoming totally irrelevant. Flooding the paper with immoral right wingers (Kristol, Gersen, Krauthammer, Will, etc.) and forcing out people with integrity. The web site will have precious little of value after this. I will follow your column wherever it goes, Dan. Keep up the good work.

Dan, this absolutely sucks! You are the only reason I visit washingtonpost.com on a daily basis. When you go on vacation or take a day off, I'm totally lost. I love the compilation of cartoons and being able to get a sense of what's going on by visiting your blog.

I loved when you would blast Bush and now Obama. You tell it like it is regardless of who is in the White House. I wish other journalists would do the same.

They are making a big mistake, but I know you will land somewhere else because you provide a valuable service. Please let us know where and that will be my go-to place for news. Thank you so much!

I created an account just to leave this one post. I want to echo the general sentiment here: once Dan Froomkin stops writing for the Post, I'll stop reading. One would think that the WaPo would want to attract and keep as many readers as possible, but apparently that's not a concern. The Post's strategy seems to be to pander to that far-right slice of the American readership that's already made its mind up on every issue and simply wants its opinions validated. It might work; it's certainly worked for Rush and Fox. I, however, am out of here.

As the political editor for an e-mag, you've been my go-to guy each morning, drinking coffee and scoping out the reads. I've started my day with you for years, Dan, and I trust that you will let us know where we can find you so we can continue to absorb your intelligent analysis.

What a sad day for the Post, which has slowly bled away its credibility with unwise decisions; but change is here, and what is unable to make the leap into new possibilities is destined to fail anyhow.

Me, I've already written your manager to say adios; thanks to the intertubes, I hope not to have to say goodbye to you. Better opportunities ahead, Dan and heartfelt thanks for all you've done.

I just heard about this over at Salon. Unbelievable! I don't often read WaPo news anymore, when I do it is for your column. I see they still have room for the right-wing neocon blathererso-Krouthammer, Kristol, Gerson and their ilk. It's sure not the WaPo of the Watergate era. Anyway, once you're gone, so will I be. It's a sad day.

I also must now consider if there is any reason to continue to browse these pages now. Thank you for each and every thing you have done here. You are a real treat. There's the Nieman Watchdog still - ISN'T THERE..? WAIT...YOU'RE STILL THERE AREN'T YOU..? Let us know where you land. Also, I shall be forever sorry I never got a Froomkin Bobblehead. sigh. Best Wishes.

If the Post seriously believes this is how to survive in the New Media era, they are sorely mistaken. Yet again, they betray their readers and send another articulate, impassioned writer to the dust bin of thier publishing history because he dares to speak truth to power. They ahould all be VERY ashamed. Nothing less then reinstatement and a full Editorial apology will resolve this in the Post's favor - and even then I'll have a hard tiem trusting what is written again.

Dan, thank you for the incisive reporting that you provided us in your blog. Conservatives always complained about your charges against Bush, but you consistently backed your reporting with solid evidence.

We will all be eager to hear the back story on your termination after you finish your last column.

I think this is a sad day for the Washington Post. This "blog" in whatever form is one of the best demonstrations of how journalism can evolve. Reading Froomkin's work I was turned on to the work of countless other journalists, some of whom I bookmark and read directly.

After the "honeymoon" it was great to see Froomkin working as tirelessly to keep the Obama administration honest as he had for the Bush administration. I feel Froomkin represents the best that the Post has to offer, speaking truth to power and shining sunlight on hypocrisy.

The Post seems hell bent on competing with Fox News and the Wall Street Journal for readers who are only interested in hearing from conservative columnists and desire all their news to be reported from the alternate reality that the Post allows those columnists to create. So be it.

The editorial decision makers at the Post are now officially the Dan Snyders of the newspaper business. How can they get rid of Dan Froomkin, the only serious and useful blog in their entire editorial page, and keep a bunch of smarmy a$$wipes like Kristol, Gerson, and Krauthammer? Who made this ridiculous and very very stupid decision? This makes the Post less relevant and less useful. Bring Dan back, you jerks.

Dan, I don't know if you're reading these comments (I hope you are), but I'm concerned that the Post will shut you down before you can get the word out about whatever site you end up at. Just to be clear: I am going to continue to read your stuff, wherever you write it. Your last day at the Post is my last day there, too.

Will moving from the Post affect your ability to cover the White House? Did you have inside conversations with WaPo reporters?

I suggested over on Glenn Greenwald's blog on Salon that if Joan Walsh had half a brain in her head, she'd snap you up instantly. Actually, the same could be said of Arianna Huffington. There would be drawbacks to being at either of those sites, of course.

It seems that newspapers have decided to get out of the journalism business. And they wonder why they're dying. How ironic!

Dan, this is the Washington Post's loss and further evidence of a once great paper in decline. Your work for the post has been excellent and, in my opinion, the best political writing at the WP in the last eight years. You were honest and gutsy enough to challenge the Bush administration long before others in the WP did, and you've continued to call it like you see it now that Obama is in office.

The Post is both shortsighted and foolish for letting you go. As far as I'm concerned, they have completed their conversion from essential reading and solid reporting (from the Watergate days) to an expendable rag only valuable for keeping an eye on the pulse of the beltway insiders who have effectively become sycophants to power.

Even if the Post is becoming a hard-core neoconservative rag, it is mystifying why they dropped Froomkin. He has been a national treasure for keeping the political dialogue fact based. Any publication that continues to feature Krauthammer, Kristol and Wolfowitz is hardly a seeker of truth.

What a shame. However, since your readers by & large show up more for you than for the WaPo brand, and the majority will follow you to your next venue, it seems that you lose little - and the WaPo loses a lot.

At first blush this appears to be a weak business decision on the WaPo's part, but since the WaPo would apparently prefer to focus on that decreasing pool of readers who struggle with the Internets (with all attendant political biases), their decision does make a bit of sense.

It was the change in format early this year that did not work to the advantage of this informative and useful blog.

It makes me sick in the stomach to see that just as the're cutting out this blog, the Post is giving opinion space to Paul Wolfowitz, the architect of the disastrous Iraq and Afghanistan wars, of Guantanamo, and probably many more evil enterprises as well. For shame! Giving equal space to Hitler!

The majority of the right-wing ideological shills on the WaPo editorial pages are almost insufferably bad. Without a tonic like Froomkin, the paper comes one step closer to being totally unreadable by any thinking citizen. Whatever. Good commentary can still be found elsewhere.

Good luck Dan! Am sure I'll be reading your comments soon in a less politicized and more well reasoned forum than this place!

sending this letter in...
I simply can not believe that the Washington Post is canceling Dan Froomkin from the online edition. Dan is one of the most articulate, thoughtful, and accurate commenters on the site. His opinions are well reasoned and he quotes extensively from others so the reader gets both the facts of a story he is commenting on and what other writers say about it. With Greg Sargent and Ezra Klein, the Post was finally getting a critical mass of informed writers on politics, government, foreign affairs, and the economy. Froomkin was the first Post columnist that actually challenged some of the other opinion writers and called them out when they spouted conventional wisdom disguised as original thought. I would think that the post would want to leverage these three exceptional writers and create a roundtable discussion once a week to provide a new way to drive readers to the WaPo site. By removing Froomkin, the Post is shooting itself in the foot. Please reconsider this ill-informed decision.

Dan I will miss you and your insightful analysis. Keep the pressure on Obama to live up to his campaign promises where ever you end up. Know that you will bring a huge following with you.

The only reason I have the WaPo bookmarked was to read Dan--he would synthesize the news in a way that allowed busy people to keep up with what was important in the White House. I hope to continue reading Dan's column, whether I read the WaPo is questionable.

Ha ha. That figures. I wonder what their alleged reasoning was for canceling Dan's contract?

To the editors of the Washington Post: when Dan goes, I go. I'll be pulling Washington Post from my bookmarks, and I won't be visiting this site again. Baiting crazies in the comments sections is fun, but playing games on the pages of "Pravda" is just providing comfort to the enemy. Your news reportage has become unreliable and your opinion section is a cesspool.

Hi Dan, I am shocked to hear this news. You played an invaluable role during the Bush Administration - I could count on you to let me know the real story. While I find it painful to read your stories on Obama, I appreciate that you are playing the same role - keeping him honest.

The Post seems to be deteriorating the last few months. More and more right wing commentators, Glenn Beck on a Q&A. The Washington Times readers are NOT their consituency - the whole world is. Just find a way to get it paid for. Print journalism is over for places like the Wash.Post and NYTimes, the world's thoughtful people read you online - we can't get subscriptions for paper - silly anyway when I can click from one to another.

Danny Boy: I couldn't believe the news???!!!
God, I hope you return to a newspaper that considers first-rate journalism priceless. Best of luck, brother. Let us know where you go. The WAPO returns to my parrot's cage.

It is sad that we have go to blogs and The Daily Show so we don't loose faith in the media, and hence our country. I was heartsick when we went to war w/ Iraq. I knew we were being lied to – it be will quick, easy and inexpensive. Thanks WaPo you don't owe us any other viewpoint than pushing us down the path that has been so successful for the past 8 years. Another reader who will leave w/ Dan Froomkin. -DanJ in NoVA

Dan, I will follow you and your thoughtful analysis and objective journalism where ever you go. You have been the only reason I've turned to the Post in the last few years as the formerly glorious paper has gone down the corporatist, right-winged rabbit-hole. As other commenters have pointed out, this is why newspapers are circling the drain. The audience they are aiming for can't actually read. They are making themselves obsolete. Intelligent people read and we read YOU! It's their loss as you'll always have an audience no matter where you write.

When neocons took over the country, WaPo sat back and watched. As things spun increasingly out of control, WaPo continued to stand on the sidelines.

Then came torture and Katrina and the countless botched opportunities that exposed the GOP for what it is - the Marketing Party that can't govern its way out of a paper bag.

With the GOP on the decline, with Republican dogma thoroughly discredited by history and the party having gone supernova, leaving behind a densely-packed core of the very nuttiest of wingnuts, WaPo decides NOW is the time to fully embrace the extreme right. It defies all sense, but it is what it is.

Just remember, WaPo editors, when you're closing up the office for the last time, just remember that your demise wasn't the internet's fault. It was your total abdication of journalistic responsibility and integrity that truly sealed your fate.

I am saddened and sickened by the Post's lurch to the right in the last months. The Op-ed page has become a cavalcade of conservative voices both predictable and partisan. Firing Froomkin accelerates the transformation into a WSJ south.

Heard about this from Salon and was shocked. I grew up in DC and the Post was always my "go-to" paper for many years, but for the last decade or so, it's become increasingly clear that its star is fading. Off the favorites list as of today...

Dan, I appreciate your work and hope to find you at another URL in the near future!

Becoming, nothing! This was the capstone move of their transition. There's a little cleanup left to do but by and large the project is complete.

Amusingly, the right will never accept this paper despite the endless capitulation. WaPo has been the right's enemy since Watergate, and if there's one thing I know about right wingers, they take silly abstract grudges to the grave.

Gee, Dan, it's great to see all these liberal paeans to you. I can only hope that all those who are promising to stop reading WaPo if you go follow through on their promises - but probably not, no more than Obama is following through on his.

After two phone calls, I just cancelled my subscription to the Washington Post (the first lady decided to hang up on me when I stated I wanted to cancel). I had been a subscriber for more than 14 years.

I regret that there is probably enough bad blood, that if the Washington Post were to reconsider their decision you would still end up leaving. The fact remains that your loyal readers will follow you to your next outlet. We will simply switch our bookmarks. However, the Washington Post faces a void in a tenacious, and utterly fair reporter. Many of their decisions, and what they allow to be printed under their masthead have been deteriorating in recent years.

When you consider the foolish chatter from the likes of Kristol, Krauthammer, and other of the lame parrots of RNC daily talking points that passes for comment on the WaPo, it's almost a badge of honor to be fired.

The sad thing is that Froomkin's voice and information provided an intelligent and factual vision of current politics--something that is virtually never seen in the conservative columns this paper carries.

Katherine Graham would fire the lot of this paper's management with relish in the face of the this latest shameful decision.

The neocons are simply ignored, like senile old uncles. They have NO understanding of what is happening around them, making them irrelevant.

Certainly, this is clear to everyone but the WAPO, perhaps explaining WHY newspaper corporatism is failing, really. They're victims of their own bad management decisions, just like those that killed every other obsolete business before them...

Dan, over the years, your column and later your blog has been an essential part of my day. Back in the days when it wasn't fashionable to speak out against the Bush administration, you did, and always with reason, and great eloquence. While cable news and even classic media have begun equating fairness with meekness, you have remained a stalwart, continuing to ask tough questions of all comers. As of late, as the new administration has settled in, you have remained critical but always fair.

As critical as you were of the Bush administration, I have no doubt that if the Obama administration even began to cross those same lines, yours would be the first voice shouting in protest. Your refusal to quit reporting on the harmful lasting effects of the Bush administration is the type of journalism that others would prefer to sweep under the rug.

Dan, I'll read you wherever you go from here.

To the Washington Post: Your decision to terminate Dan's contract has cost you a great voice, not to mention, I suspect, scores of readers. If that decision was even remotely political, then you've managed to silence not just an important voice, but one of great integrity and reason. You've reduced yourself to the intellectually dishonest left/right warfare that makes cable news and so many other news organizations such a joke. It's easy to find dissenting voices, but a nuanced voice is rarer, and challenges its listeners. If my passion regarding this decision isn't clear, let me put it this way: at this fork in the road, I'll follow Dan.

The WaPo has almost completed morphing into a wannabe WaTimes. Firing Dan Fromkin while retaining the neocon hacks who dutifully support the philosophy that has run this country into a ditch the past eight years is unforgivable. Katharine Graham is rolling in her grave.

hey kiddo, be sure you and prospective new employers see the (thousands?) of comments at WaPo's ombudsmanblog before you settle on salary at next job - looks like you may drag fairly huge 'dowry' of loyal readers along with you wherever you go: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ombudsman-blog/2009/06/post_axes_froomkins_white_hous.html

we're getting this bizarre mental image of your face on Uma Thurman's body with her big thumb in 'Even Cowgirls Get The Blues' hitchhiking north to New York; if you do end up with New York-based organization, do you suppose that will leave washington with equivalent of Boston's 'Curse of The Bambino' after they traded off Babe Ruth to the Yankees?

I'm a daily reader of the Post's ediditorial page and among all of its regular columnists Froomkin is right at the top of my list to read along with small handful of others (e.g. Ignatius, Krauthammer). His pieces have insight into behind the scenes events that aren't reported anywhere else. A very poor decision to let him go.

This is terrible news. I have watched the White House with you through your column from almost its inception in the early and dark days of the Bush administration to the present. I will miss it but will follow you are whatever blog site you maintain after your departure from the Washington Post.

Wow! I leave the country for 3 weeks and my first bookmarked Post column is axed! What a travesty! In a world where Krauthammer and Broder get facetime where ever you look — for no apparent reason — I suppose a guy who knows what he's talking about was bound to lose his job. It was Froomkin who brought me to the WashPo website on a daily basis and I've even thought of trying to subscribe to the dead-tree version from here in California just to show my support for what the online version has accomplished. But if the choice is Krauthammer, Hiatt, Broder et al OR Froomkin, it's time to send my clicks elsewhere.
Really bad decision, fellas!

The Post keeps Charles Krauthammer and David Broder, and fires Dan Froomkin. Is this Bizarro World or what? Thanks, Dan, for keeping the truth flowing. When you are gone, the Washington Post will see a lot less of me.

After you leave Dan I'll stop reading the Washington Post and I'm going to cancel my local paper as well since they are also owned by the Post. I'm tired of seeing Krautenhammers face on the editorial page of my paper anyway.

I've followed your column from the beginning, and it's a highlight of my daily must-read list (and the only part of the Post I read on a daily basis). I'm so sad to hear about the decision to discontinue your contract. Like many others, I am questioning whether tenacious reporting is really valued by the Post.

Dan, I'm stunned and dismayed. I'll be writing the editor later, but this is a horrible move on their part - you've consistently done superb work and driven traffic to the site. It makes no good sense.

Dan, Thanks for providing context to some of the most important issues of our time. That is not as easy as some of your critics would like to think. Continue the good work where ever you land and GOOD LUCK. On an another not - Like many of your regular readers I will be seeing less of the Post.

Dan's new format isn't generating the hits anymore. Why? Because the new comments section eliminated the "Recommend" counter on each post. Without that feedback, the volume of the comments section is much less (for so many folks, the comments section is all about posturing for attention).

Without the "Recommend" feature, Dan's comments sections had become almost peaceful, compared with the invective that flows elsewhere, where posters count coup according to how many "votes" they get from the audience.

The managers want to see the comment sections grow out to the high three figures worth of posts, with lots of repeat clicking. An outrageous jack-azz like Krauthammer can manage this trivially, if the format of the comments section is right.

I have just learned that the Post fired Dan Froomkin. I am shocked. I find White House Watch to be one of the best sources of info out there. I check it several times a day and it drives me to spending much more time that I would otherwise at the Post. While I appreciate the diversity of opinion at the post, Dan provided much needed balance. He was also one of your most valuable staff for not succumbing to group think, whether pro-Bush or pro-Obama.

WTF! It's not like you didn't give Obama cr@p too. I guess they had to make room for Wolfie the Impailor. I read Nieman watchdog, so I can still enjoy your writting. Just want to say thanks, you were the only one in America (in a major paper)holding the government accountable for the last few years. THANKS AGAIN!

I deleted my WaPo bookmark yesterday. I guess you had to go to free up space for more mindless shills to endlessly repeat neocon political talking points.

I used to have great respect for the Post and read the front page and columnists religiously. The downward slide was accelerating with the brilliant Gerson and Kristol additions, but this is the last straw.

I second the chorus of voices expressing shock and sadness at WP's short-sighted decision to let you go. However, who knows what crueler fate may have been in store for you had you stayed. I'm now through with the WP. I wish you great success for the future and please find some way to let us know where you are gone that we may continue to enjoy your insight, wit and erudition. Badly Done WP!

Your comments have been extremely informative about what goes on in the WH, notwithstanding who occupies it. I don't doubt you'll make this change work for you. I enjoy and look forward to your comments wherever they are posted. One reason to visit the WP website has been removed.

Your column is pretty much the only reason I read the Post anymore , and once you're gone so am I. The Post just isn't worth it as there are finer news sources, which also aren't subsidizing the neocons and right-wing hacks and their sad views of the world. I wish you the best and look forward to reading you at your new home Dan - your blog was pretty much required reading during the Bush Era to find out the latest atrocities and lies.

Hi, Dan. Aside from liking your coverage, you were always great about responding to personal communications. Like many of the other commentators, I am sure you will land on your feet. Here's the letter I sent to the ombudsman, FYI

"I just read that Dan Froomkin has been canned. Too bad for you. I was born in Washington and grew up reading the Post, including poring over it during the Watergate investigation and hearings when I was a teenager (talk about developing brand loyalty). Over the years it's been one of my most frequent online sources of news. Not anymore. Dan was one of the few fresh, energetic voices and he did a huge service pulling together a lot of commentary together. Your profile has become too old, too conservative, and almost completely lacking in diversity in terms of opinion and commentary. The WP is a snooze. Goodbye."

Because of Dan Froomkin, the Post was one of my top "must view daily" websites. In fact, if the day of "pay per view" online newspapers or articles ever comes, I would have quite willingly paid for his intelligent summary of numerous news sources. (Now I also admire and enjoy Robinson and Dionne, among others, but there's no shortage of intelligent liberal voices on the 'net -- Froomkin's combination of news summaries, links to sources, and intelligent liberal commentary is unique and irreplaceable.)

As for paying to view the Post's remaining neocon and neofascist propagandists, or the occasional breaking news story that will be instantly picked up by other media, I promise you, it will never happen.

Dan - can't begin to say how much I will miss your columns. If I read nothing else that day online (and I wish that the Post had added it to their Kindle service) I read this column, and thought - my God, this is what real journalism is about. Why don't I see more of this out there?

Well, we can see why.

Please keep us all in mind in your future endeavours. You may not realize what a fan base you have out here for calling a spade a frickin' shovel, but for every person that is stirred enough to write, there are tons out there that sigh and shrug their shoulders sadly at the state of modern journalism and of newspaper journalism in particular.

Is the WaPo finally turning the corner? Is Bush-bashing finally passe? Has this noose source discovered that liberal orthodoxy is not as progressive as the self-deluded think? That ignorant lefty "journalists" are a dime a dozen? Could the interests of the nation as a whole supersede those of Beltway insiders' career tracks?

The WaPo hasn't convinced me yet, but firing Froomkin is a step in the right direction. Welcome to the ranks of the unemployed, Danny boy.

Dan, I emailed you, the Post Ombudsman, and Charles Krauthammer (who, I'm sure, had *something* to do with it). I mentioned it in my own blog, posted here in the Ombudsman's column, and sent email to Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Sullivan in support of you. There's not a lot a person can do to fix this kind of situation, but we do what we can.

At this point, if I were you, I wouldn't *want* to stay, even if they changed their minds. It's obvious your work is not appreciated, and you deserve exposure elsewhere. I am sure you will land on your feet, and I look forward to reading your column wherever it ends up.

I will be dropping the Post as a daily read. Froomkin was the first blog I visited and really the only item I was interested in but his articles naturally lead to other articles on the Post. I grew to have a respect for the hard working reporters that were posted online, and the information gathered. But, since the election, the Post’s own content has degraded. I’m sorry to see that the Post lost its sense of pride, truth and balance. And as in the Bush years, bad decision making starts at the top, so I suspect that the Post is in for a long run of shame.

And you, as editors, have to wonder. How many people aren't posting a comment that have the same sentiment?

If there's a blog you need to dispose of, it's Krauthammer. He can't think independently, nor act without imposing undue harm on his targets. What kind of newspaper wants to support that idiocracy?

Dan --I join the many, many who are shocked and dismayed. I faithfully read White House Watch daily and have done so for the past 9 years. Your coverage of a variety of articles and blogs have helped me be a more involved and better citizen. I have written letters to the editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer and to my senators and representative. You have the courage to speak truth to power and, I speculate, that is why your contract has been terminated. I strongly urge the Post to reconsider, to remember the good of the public they are suppose to serve.

All of my life, I have considered the Washington Post a watchdog of the executive branch. This is less and less true all the time, and I think the cutting of Froomkin is the nail in that coffin.

Whitehouse Watch nearly single-handedly sustained my hope and sanity through the long night of the Bush administration. I always knew that someone was giving the government due scrutiny. Since January, Dan Froomkin has continued to put an equally unforgiving spotlight on the Obama adminstration, often forcing me to reconsider my own ideas and see my president more realistically. This is what good political journalism does.

If the newspapers wonder why they are failing, this is a perfect case in point. What does the Post have left to offer that I would be willing to pay for?

I am deeply disapointed in the decision by the Washington Post to fire Dan Froomkin. I make it a point, however busy I am, to read his blog every day. His has been a lonely voice in the wilderness, calling torture by its name, speaking truth to power. That is why he was fired, no doubt. I will no longer read the Post either--it does not exemplify the great standards of Katherine Graham or Ben Bradlee that scrutinized a "third rate burglary" in the Watergate/Nixon era, or published the Pentagon papers. This is a sad day for journalism. But as Martin Luther King once reminded us, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Be well, Dan. Know that a lot of us are inspired by your integrity and will continue to seek out your critical analysis--so needed for a healthy functionign democracy.

Dan, when you go I will be following. I'm tired of the rightward drift of this paper anyway. They can print hacks like Kraut, Kristol and Gerson but they can't print an independent and innovative journo like Dan Froomkin? I want to thank you for the tremendously important work you did in the Bush years, and the way you have demanded integrity and honesty from the new crowd. Only the Neocons (who somehow have managed to linger on here, more than anywhere else) will be happy to see you gone.

Dan, I've been reading your column pretty much daily since 2004, and for long stretches of time it seemed like you were the only voice of sanity and integrity amid the journalistic chorus of nutcases, enablers, stenographers, and liars. The transition from the dark days of Bush to the brighter days of Obama has not changed your critical judgment one iota -- you continue to call out the White House for every single evasion and broken promise, just as you have done for the past 5 years.

WaPost's decision to can you while keeping Krauthammer and the neocons is an alarming development that speaks volumes about the decline of American journalism. I will read you wherever you go, whereas the Post will get few clicks from me henceforth.

Thank you, Dan, for your intelligence, your commons sense, and your service to democracy. Now, on to bigger and better things.

No Froomkin = No WaPo for me.
And I will look on with joy as this neocon infested rag crashes and burns.
It couldn't happen to a better warmonger.

For instance: Many more Americans will be in anger over the stupid firing of the WaPo's Froomkin --WaPo's sole consistent voice of reason-- and the continued drumbeat of war on Iran by the numbers of old, male, white, misguided chickenhawks, spooks and cowboys here than those supposedly in danger if CIA officials involved in torture continue to be criticized and questioned about what crimes they carelessly and blatantly did.
When one has blatantly done wrong (war crimes!) when did lies and denials ever reconcile a rightfully angry people over truth, course correction and apology? (We apologize when we're wrong, but our country shouldn't?!)

Might NEVER trumps Right.

Washington Post, you suck and I for one am gladly done with you. I'll be waiting for your just karma...

Chock up another Post subscription cancellation. Froomkin provided, almost singlehandedly, the credibility you enjoyed.

I've kept my daily paper subscription active for far longer than I've physically 'read' it. Mostly reading things on the website. I felt it was important to support the paper through the subscription even though I could get it for free online.

This act shows that support is no longer warranted or deserved.

Subscription canceled and I'll be finding other online sources for information from here on out.

Your column was a "must read" for me every day, which I often passed on to others. As Glenn Greenwald points out in great post over at Salon (http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/19/washpost/index.html), you are one of the very few that understands the role of the journalist is to inform its readers based on facts. When people made dishonest statements (either Democrat or Republican), you called them on it and stated the facts. That used to be a goal of journalism and it's terribly sad that the "traditional" media now sees this as a fireable offense.

Your firing epitomizes everything that is wrong about the Washington Post - no wonder it's losing readership and having financial problems. I can imagine a day in the not too distant future when it becomes part of the Murdoch empire - the editorial page is mostly there already.

I look forward to linking to you wherever you end up next. In some ways, I'm glad it won't be the Washington Post as I don't want to drive traffic their way.

So Long and good bye..... maybe you should hit up Air-America for a job.

And as for all of those threatening to leave when Dan does.... maybe this so called news organization will stop being so darn left leaning.

Also what the hell are you all complaining about anyways... you still have Eugene 'I won a pulitzer' Robinson, and EJ 'all Dems are Moderates' Dionne to get your Left leaning shills for the day.

And I can pretty much guarantee that 90% of those here who say they will never visit the WaPo.com again or are canceling their Subscriptions (because we all know frommie doesn't appear in print) are just bellowing a lot of hot air. You will be back in the future because most of you are creatures of habit, and will find someone left leaning to leach onto.

Thank you, Dan. You asked the questions people with a conscience wanted to hear.

alutz08- We, the independent thinkers of the world, liked Froomkin not because he was "liberal," but because he dared to ask questions. No of these other guys ("liberal" and "conservative" alike) ever bothered. You sound like you aren't too keen on the practice either, which is most likely why your grammar is deplorable. It's never too late to get help, learn to read, think for yourself, etc...

This has been my daily must read for the past 4+ years. I look forward to it every afternoon. Froomkin is the only one at this publication that holds government AND the press accountable. WP will undoubtedly lose a good deal of readers. Best of luck - at least we can still find you at Niemanwatchdog right? Best of luck.

Everything that should be written in response to your firing has been written by some of the most intelligent and cogent commenters on the internet. I add my astonishment and regret at what can only be described as a short sighted decision. I echo Glenn Greenwald and James Fallow's in what this says about the Washington Post's editorial board.

Good luck in your endeavors and I'll find your column wherever it next appears--though any leads would be welcome.

I look forward to comments you will be able to make once your superb column reappears. This is an asinine decision on the part of The Washington Post. Your column is what I go to first in the WaPo and I am going to miss it enormously. This decision makes no rational sense. I am pleased to see so many readers send along their support to you. You deserve this. I hope this is a decision that the WaPo comes to regret. By then you will be appreciated where your column surfaces. The WaPo is out to lunch on this decision.
I agree with a comment above - Krautheimer must be involved.

Unbelievable. You are the reason I started reading the Post...and this decision bodes ill for the paper. I will continue following you but I won't keep reading the Post unless they undo this pronto. I will write the editor to this effect. I used to wait anxiously for your full blog (old format) to post after noon every day and took a daily break from work to read it-and browse other Post articles. The person(s) that made the decision to fire you should be sacked--I bet readership would go up.

A quick question to the editors of the Post...What exactly in regards to Kristol & Krauthammer's past reputation of being DEAD WRONG on nearly everything makes them qualified to offer opinion columns? If it were up to these guys we'd be bombing the hell out of the courageous protesters in Tehran right now. Yet, you fire one of the very few credible writers who does ACTUAL JOURNALISM. Truly amazing. Add me to the list of people who anxiously await your inevitable downfall. Goodbye WaPo.

The Washington Post has lost all credibility with the readers when it criticizes (and later fires) writers for reporting the facts, and rewards the neo-cons for deliberately misleading the public by giving them additional column space.

Jane Hamsher put it best:

"Froomkin's writing about the war and US foreign policy were an inherent criticism of the WaPo's own coverage and editorial position. ... In the end, the bitter petty people who discredited the entire profession with their coverage of the war and its fallout just did not like the mirror he held up to them."

I just bought the new Kindle, and WaPo was my first newspaper subscription. I'll be canceling it. I'm not paying money for a paper that carries that screeching barbarian Krauthammer and that idiot George Will along with regular entries by knucklewalkers like Gerson and even Fred Kagan .. but discontinues Dan Froomkin.

Dan got me through the Bush administration with a whole mind, he outshines all other reasons for coming here. I'm not supporting a paper moving so hard right, so viciously unbalanced with neoconservatives of the worst sort.

Thank you, Dan, you've been fantastic, I'll follow you wherever you end up.

Thank you for all your great work over these last several years. I was a loyal reader during the benighted Bush era, and reading your daily column managed to give me hope that at least someone out there could see the damage that that administration was doing to our country and our Constitution. I know I echo all to many here when I say that your constant probing and exposing of Bush's innumerable screwups and violations helped keep me sane. I do admit that my visits here fell off somewhat once the country cast off the previous regime, and for that I do apologize. I took a little while today to read your latest entries, and it's plain to see your integrity and journalistic instincts are as strong as ever.

Dan, I would say that you will be missed, but that would be inaccurate. Rather, you will be followed to wherever you next establish yourself and enjoyed just as much as you have been here. Actually it's only washingtonpost.com that will be (barely) missed, as I won't be able to continue coming here once you're gone. My mama always told me that if you don't want people to keeping acting bad, then don't reward their bad behavior. So long, WaPo.

Oh man! What's always amazed me is the amount of work you do, Dan, in listening, watching, reading and parsing through all the gibberish out there to give us a focused look at what's happening in and around the presidency. Your column is the definition of what the web is, can be and should be. I look forward to reading you wherever you turn up. WaPo.com, not so much.

I'm a long-time reader of the WaPo, who has been finding more and more stupid stuff being printed here (see numerous examples on Dean Baker's BeatThePress). WaPo's decision to boot the only the most valuable white house correspondent (Froomkin) in its portfolio only confirms Warren Buffet's long-held conclusion that WaPo has lost any "franchise value." The decision to fire Froomkin has essentially "fired" me as a visitor to WaPo once Froomkin ends his blog here. My eyeballs will go to competitors (and by the way, does WaPo honestly think it can out-flank the WSJ by going to the right?).

While I realize that newspapers are declining, I thought that the WaPo would continue to maintain high standards in its Op-Ed pages as well as some balance. With the firing of Dan Froomkin, the WaPo Op-ed page is clearly showing signs of forgetting who won the election. That lack of balance is one reason that I will reconsider keeping the WaPo on my reading list for my Political Science classes which is a shame for both students and the paper.
In addition, the neoconization of the editorial pages is a great way to kill the paper by driving away the people who remain your shrinking readership.

Your termination is one more confirmation for me that cancelling my subscription was the right thing to do. I would rather donate to whatever website that you appear on in the future. Good luck Dan! You have been a rare bright spot in the Post darkness.

I think that goes for most of us. I feel outraged by this boneheaded decision. I cancelled my home delivery and even removed WaPo from my bookmarks, but then I remembered Ezra. I'll continue to read him but I've had it with the Fred Hiatts of the world. What has it been now? Five years or more? I've read you, Dan, every day for as long as I can remember. I missed you when you took vacation. I remember when Max was born.

During Watergate, while I was a grad student, I was employed by the WaPO in a menial capacity. I was proud to work for a great newspaper. Now, with the firing of Dan Froomkin, I'm ashamed even to read this rapidly declining propaganda rag.

So I won't. Dan, your last day is my last day.

You've been tossed off a sinking ship, and good riddance to it. Wherever you go, readers who respect good journalism will follow.

Dan, you are an invaluable journalistic resources and the Washington Post obviously doesn't know what they're doing. WaPo management has its head up its ***.

I am certain that some other journalistic vehicle will see your value and want to reward you, and your readers, for it. Personally I'd like to see you alongside Glenn Greenwald at Salon, or with your own White House Watch column at the NYT. I'll be looking out to see where you surface.

In the meantime, shame, SHAME on the Post and its pathetic, truth-and-accountability-hostile neocon management. As if we needed any further confirmation of why newspapers are in decline, your firing supplies it.

Dan, I was absolutely stunned to hear that Wapo has terminated your contract. I've been reading your column since it first appeared - this is my lunchtime reading every day, without fail. I have not been pleased to see the hard right direction that the Post is taking and am disappointed that they don't seem to think that there is a need for an intelligent, probing voice from the Left. Once you have gone, I will no longer have any reason to read the Post, except for Telnaes, unless they muzzle her, too. I wish you luck in your next venture and will definitely look forward to your column, wherever you land.

Dan, I will stop reading the WP the day you leave, and follow you to your new home, wherever that is. You were the canary in the coal mine for me -- the one journalist whose presence signified that the Post hadn't sold out every last bit of principle it ever had.

It's now official - the Washington Post is a propaganda rag, owned and operated by a sordid confederation of butt-polishers and chicken hawks. This was once the greatest newspaper in the world, and now I wouldn't wipe my @ss with it...

You have ceased to understand both the definition and reason for journalism. The point of journalism is not to simply regurgitate what the masters of the universe expound, but analyze and show when these emperors have no clothes, something Dan Froomkin has done exceptionally well in his tenure.

You can tell the quality of a newspaper by the number of enemies it makes and lately the Washington Post makes very few. Most particularly it has ceased to make enemies with the establishment. In fact quite the opposite - it has become the establishment and in that cushy incestuous relationship has lost all perspective and most of its value.

So while you editors and owners feel a haughty greatness for your growing insider status, know that it has come at a price:

You have sold your souls, your integrity, your paper, and perhaps part of the future of this nation to the pursuit of your own narcissistic grandiosity.

Froomkin borrows on the works of anyone who writes stories in the media. He takes snippets that fit his own left leaning views, and compiles it into one section that 100-200 Bush-hater drones follow. The only thing original is Froomkin's own spin of the articles.

Also, for someone who put the previous administration under a heat lamp, Froomkin has not done the same thing for Obama during his first 5 months. Froomie was not practicing what he taught on a continual basis, and took a lot of what Obama tossed out as gospel, on some serious issues without due diligence.

So folks... why not go out and do what Froomie did on your own? Go find the stories that fit your political agenda without wating until noon each week day for someone to spoon feed it to you.

No one at the Post speaks truth to power better than you, Dan, and there's no one more deserving of the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence. The fact that the Post sees fit to employ the likes of Gerson and Kristol and not you speaks volumes about why Fred Hiatt continues to be an embarrassment. This does not bode well for the Brauchli regime. God help us.

makes sense. your entire schtick was bush bashing and playing to the crowd that ate that up. now that obama is in, you are no longer necessary (treating him with kid gloves at every turn probbably did not help your case). buh-bye. i am sure you will land on your feet at the huffington post or somewhere similar...

I remember seeing a slogan on a T-shirt back in the "Drumbeat" days, before the launch of the war: "If journalism were easy, the Washington Post would do it." Truer now than ever.

I've stopped lamenting the death of newspapers and now toast to their rapid demise so that whatever will replace them may more quickly rise, phoenix-like, from the long-smoldering ashes. Whatever that is, Dan Froomkin will be among those at its forefront.

Common idiom usually refers to a newspaper "carrying" certain reporters but, in a more important sense, the opposite is true: Good reporters carry newspapers. I have every expectation that Froomkin will achieve even loftier heights somewhere else while the Post rides it's herd of hacks and has-beens towards its sinking sunset.

Thanks, Dan, for the job you did. Taking the time and having the balls to report the truth was worth so much to me during the dark, dark Bush years. Will delete my WAPO bookmark but will see you at NWatchdog. Thanks again.

WaPo has made a big mistake. I HOPE they realize it as soon as you leave. Good work and I'm following you. WaPo joins the ranks of the Right-Wing who are supposedly surrounded and under-siege by the Liberal media. Ha.

Dan - just wanted to say thanks. You were terribly important to me, I probably owe you my sanity (well, and to a few other people, including Krugman and several bloggers). There were a few years there where it seemed that either I or the entire country were going completely insane. As someone who's always been reasonably moderate, this was hard to make sense of. You helped me realized that it was neither I nor most of the country going bonkers, only the DC media-political establishment.

At this point, the only difference between the Washington Post and the Washington Times is that the demented right-winger running the Post is not a Korean religious cult leader. From Krauthammer to Wolfowitz, from Kagan to Hiatt, from Samuelson to Will, it's all war-is-good, and torture-is-good, and taxes-are-for-the-little-people, all the time.

The Post seems to by looking for a space that is occupied by Fox among other right wing spewers. It is a loss for the Post. It is a loss for me. Good luck Dan Froomkin, I am certain you will land on your feet.

A truly senseless and short-sighted decision by the WaPo. I wish I had a subscription so that I could have the pleasure of cancelling it in protest. Dan, your work, with its honesty and true reporting, as opposed to simply repeating the canned talking points fed to you by the powers that be, is the reason that I have been a daily visitor to the WaPo site. I am sure that some other news organization will be quick to take advantage of the WaPo's loss. I, along with many others, will be quick to follow you there. Best wishes and best of luck.

Dan, I really admired your forthrightness during the Bush years. That was way too much in absence at this paper (and the NYT). I thought you were occasionally too partisan, but I'd rather there be too many cojones rather than too few, so to speak.

I'm sure you'll land on your feet and I will read you whereever you do end up.

Well, once again the truly lame WAPO puts the lie to the "liberal media" tag!
Real patriots, Froomkin, don't stand a chance in this "democracy" gone wrong.
Forget Iran, Americans need to start paying attention to the runaway tyranny right here in GodBlessAmerica. Let us know where your next stop is Dan. We'll all be there. WAPO? In the words of Bart Simpson, eat my shorts.

Dear Dan, I love your blog, it is the BEST! I am sorry you have been treated so poorly. I will continue to read you everyday where ever you land. Thanks for the outstanding job you have done at the Washington Post.

Add my voice to those sorry to see Dan go. I've been a loyal WaPO reader since the '70's when I watched Woodward and Bernstein unravel the puzzle of Watergate, but I guess like many of the other posters to this site I will now start broadening my journalistic horizons. Without Dan's column, the Post is just not an every day must read anymore.

Dan, you are one of a kind: you speak the truth intelligently and coherently without partisan slant -- whether it's the crimes of GW Bush or Barack Obama. These abilities are lacking in many, if not most, journalists unfortunately. My strong hunch is that it was these very qualities that caused your demise at the partisan Post. Because of your extraordinary talents and character, I have considered the Post my FIRST read (of many). With your departure (and the addition of Kristol and Wolfowitz and idiotic blathers of Broder, Krauthammer and Will) I will likewise depart from these pages. The Post has demonstrated it's desire to become Faux News Part II. As demonstrated by the overwhelming comments of other bloggers, however, many of us will miss you. But we are sure you will land on your feet and end up somewhere good enough to appreciate your character and talents. Obviously, that is NOT the Washington Post. It does NOT deserve you my friend. Leave with a smile from a job well done. The Post has just sealed its fate as an irrelevant rag that will now join the New York Post at the bottom of Karl Rove's bird cage (where they belong).

Dan,
The thoughtful nature of most of the letters in this string is testament to the quality of your audience. Most of us have a need for understanding the factual underpinnings of whatever it is we encounter, so as to develop our own opinions rather than simply parrotting unsupported opinions from the talking head crowd. As a scientist, I am accustomed to providing references and other information that support my hypotheses, and I can face censure if I misrepresent the factual basis for my opinions. My work goes through a process of formal peer review before it can be published. Such a standard does not seem to exist in the field of journalism (especially in the area of editorial commentary), but you have somehow found a way to operate as though it did. For me, one of the greatest values of your work has been the manner in which you have provided convenient access to primary source materials that bear on the subjects of the day. Your sourcing and conclusions have proven to be deep, informative, and highly reliable. Thank you.

I am hopeful that you find a way to do more than simply transplant your efforts to a new environment (which would not be a bad thing). I would support a new news organization that operated according to the reporting, ethical, and informational standards you have set. You would have no competition.

I will be contacting the Post to find out how to have my account permanently deleted after your departure.

I cannot believe the obtuseness of the Washington Post in terminating Froomkin's contract. Does he have a point of view? Of course. But more important and invaluable, he provides a concise synthesis and analysis of the news from the White House far more intelligent and knowledgeable than anyone else. He has been an imprtant source for many of us who work in news and public affairs and I shudder when I think that the newspaper of Kay Graham, Ben Bradlee and so many other greats of journalism has sunk so low.

Dan, I didn't read you were being fired until today, I was shocked...I have followed your blog since I discovered it sometime in 2004, I look forward to it every week day...I am glad to hear there will be a place where we follow you. It is sad to think the WP doesn't realize just how valuable a source you have been..

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is not the relevant image for the post's management now. With the firing of Froomkin they are chopping holes in the lifeboats with fire axes. The Post is following the same road as the Republican party, aiming at a smaller and smaller subset of the population by emphasizing their geriatric and clueless stable of neocon columnists, and eliminating the contemporary, relevant, fact-based journalism practiced by Froomkin. Burying his column while blaring people like Krauthammer and Kristol and Will was bad enough when it was done a year or so ago, but firing the most interesting columnist in your paper is tantamount to a death wish. The first thing I turned to every morning was always Froomkin. I'll now skip the Post and its Fox-influenced editorial page entirely and go to wherever Froomkin lands. Good-bye, WAPO. You used to be a good newspaper once.

Thank you, Dan. Your intelligence and huge talent have been obvious to anyone who's had even a passing acquaintance with your column. But it's been your work's tough, deep and glowing moral center which, I think, has evoked the vast outpouring of disbelief, anger and, yes, grief at your dismissal. You've deeply touched us all over these years. I can't thank you enough. I really can't thank you enough.

I'm surprised how easy you're making it to completely forget about your paper. Why rely on young underpaid reporters for information and grumpy old columnists with dismal track records for their "opinion" when you can turn to the blogosphere and find true experts willing to weigh in on just about any subject? That the paper doesn't value its most insightful person covering the Iraq war speaks volumes. It was apparent to anyone paying attention that the country's major papers were being played by interested parties to manipulate the country into war. But the truth will out -- and nowadays it's mostly via the blogs where you can find out what's really going on if you know where to look.

As another reader put it, this is truly the last straw. I have split my reading time between the NYT and WaPo, putting up with the all too frequent low-quality reporting from your paper.

Sorry guys and gals -- the WaPo is gone from my browser's home page set of tabs. Out of misplaced loyalty, I have funded my daughter's college Wa-Po paper subscription. All along I have felt she would be better informed by having the NYT appear at her dorm room every day. It is time to switch to a better quality paper.

"Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt, whose stable of contributors includes Froomkin, said late Thursday: "With the end of the Bush administration, interest in the blog also diminished. His political orientation was not a factor in our decision."

When it began, the column was called “White house Briefing.” But the name was changed after concerns by some at The Post newspaper that readers might believe Froomkin was a White House reporter, working alongside those offering objective news reporters. "

Surreal. but, as they say, "so it goes". And "They will be known not so much for what they say, as for what they do".

Look, you're in the Word Game, you can't be surprised by this. After 8 years of Bush surrealism, how can you be surprised by this? People have generally gotten what they wanted: a "liberal" president with mostly the same old policies, that got GW first elected and then reelected. Who is to say that the world should have suddenly tilted on its axis when Obama was elected and the Republicans swept out of Congress?

Who is to say that the liberals aren't surreal in their own way?

Just try not to be injured by the shards of the windmills. The past is in the past. Good luck with your future. There is no lesson here for you. And most of the rest of us will not see the lesson here either.

Dan, I will miss you dearly, and will look for you on other sites. You were the only thing keeping me reading the washington post. Looks they want to be a me too of the times. good luck to them. As I have moved further in my carear, I have realized that senior mgt are not wise old men, but more like frat boys who were in the right place at the right time. This decision just confirms that assumption. good luck, you will do well and the washpo will not. Brad

I'm sorry that Mr. Froomkin's employment situation has turned for the worse, but I am not sorry to see his input disappear. Every single time I read his work, I saw nothing but bashing. It got to the point where it became a humorous adventure to find an opinion that wasn't bashing. I failed every time. OK, so maybe there's a place for bashing, but I found Mr. Froomkin's version to be a bit too fragrant for my senses. Good luck in his future endeavors.

Think of this as a new beginning, Dan. You have the support of people who appreciate your analysis of events and your questioning nature. This old lady, along with many other readers, will follow you and your work. Thanks for a great ride.

WOW! Dan Froomkin no longer with the Post. The Post has immediately lost me as a reader. The Post had been my most respected newspaper for its wide-ranging opinion collumnists, but apparently those days are gone. I had been exactly the reader the Post would die for - living in Portland, and not only reading the online content every day, but recommending specifically Dan Froomkin to my friends when they asked how I kept myself so politically well informed. No more.

Very confusing business decision. At a time when conventional newspapers are being abandoned wholesale by my generation, WaPo decides to release one of their more innovative and interesting bloggers. Froomkin at least drew in new readers, who might continue on to read their tired, old stable of oped columnists like Krauthammer and company. Maybe people will come back occasionally for Cillizza, who can sometimes be interesting.

This morning, I noticed the WP on at the front step of my neighbor and remembered when I looked forward to reading the WP. They have enough money for partisan hacks like Krauthammer and Kristol, but can't seem to afford to pay real journalists to keep their paper relevant.

The WP is becoming as reliable and useful as Faux News and Cartoon Network for providing quality journalism.

I might have been willing (if it becomes necessary) to pay something for online WAPO, but not anymore since you are getting rid of my favorite, Dan Froomkin. I hope can read Fared Zakaria, Michael Kinsley, Robert Samuelson, and Kathleen Parker elsewhere online or I will have to spend more time in my public library where I already ready Wall Street Journal articles I cannot see on the internet. I have taken the Washington Post off My Favorites list.

I am disgusted by the WAPO's decision to drop Froomkin. His journalistic integrity has been a breath of fresh air amidst the garbage that pollutes its columns under bylines like Krauthammer, Kristol, & Wolfowitz. It's no wonder why people are turning away from WAPO in droves.
I look forward to following Froomkin's contributions elsewhere.

Dear Dan
I first started reading your post in 2005 when you reported on Bush's visit to Calvin College, where we as faculty publicly dissented from several of his policies. I appreciated your clear account and analysis of what we as faculty did at that time to change the story. As a result I was hooked on your column, and I have been reading ever since. The Post is making a huge error in judgment. It speaks very poorly of Post and its editor, when one of its most able is fired. As other have stated, I will be looking for your blog elsewhere.

Dan Froomkin will land on his feet. We can't say the same thing for The Post. Kay Graham must be doing backflips at what the Weymouth/Brauchli/Hiatt regime has done to one of America's formerly great institutions of journalism.

what a sad state of affairs at such an estimable paper. Froomkin demonstrates how blogs can lift newspapers and your short sighted decision demonstrates that the Post understands not at all this new environment. To keep a Kristol in place and fire Froomkin tells most readers all they need to know about where you are headed. And I'm a conservative. I just happen to admire journalists who are wary of those who hold great power.

I'm gutted to hear this news. Dan, you were, quite literally, the only reason I read this newspaper. During the darkest years of the Cheney Administration, when it seemed like America had gone mad, I think you helped a lot of people stay sane.

Good luck to you, wherever you go. Please make sure you tell us -- I, for one, will certainly keep reading whatever you write.

I've enjoyed your writing for years -- you are always informed, fair, and insightful. I know you'll continue to provide your readers with some of the best journalism around, somewhere where your talent and hard work are truly appreciated.

Having raved about Dan elsewhere, I'd like to cite the facts that support Salon's Glenn Greenwald's theory, Dan was was let go for honorably holding the media accountable, including The Post.

In my 26 yrs of reading The Post, I can't recall another writer so esteemed by so many. Last year, Dan earned the most page views, or so I surmise from his being the only writer with more than one article in the top ten viewed - three of 10!

If fewer people click on now, owing to the White House seeming less in need of Dan's watch, it'd be terribly short-sighted of WaPo.com to imagine it didn't need a journalist with Dan's perspicacity, analytical brilliance, and integrity. Dan will go on to better things.

"As a resident of Tennessee, you certainly do not have to worry about losing my subscription because of your decision to fire Mr. Froomkin. But, as someone who visited your website on a daily basis to read what Mr. Froomkin had to say, you can be assured that I no longer have any reason to click on my Washington Post favorite’s button. (Actually I plan to delete the link as a form of protest on the day of Mr. Froomkin’s last column.)

Why do I like reading Mr. Froomkin? He has been one of the few voices over the last 8-9 years that seemed to be asking questions from a "central" position: not from the far right or the far left. And, he has continued to ask questions from that position with a new, Democratic president. There were many things Mr. Bush and the Republicans did during their 8 years in office that I did not agree with. There have been things Mr. Obama and the Democrats have done since they came in power I have not agreed with. Mr. Froomkin is one of the few columnists who brought up the concerns I feel all Americans should have.

There are many examples that Mr. Froomkin leans to the Liberal side of politics, but I don't think you could find many people who would say he is not "Fair and Balanced" ( I hope this is not copyrighted) in his reporting. He also provides references and links along with his columns to back-up what he says.

On the other hand, there are several columnists on your staff that I feel are not "Fair and Balanced". (I see no need to name them as I am sure you get enough emails regarding their columns.) They rarely provide any support or references with their columns. (Exception: George Will, and he unfortunately used an inaccurate reference.)

One of the things I see missing in today's media is "balance". I believe we should hear from both sides. I feel that firing Mr. Froomkin has changed the balance of your newspaper, and not for the better.

I see a lot of comments regarding the firing of Mr. Froomkin that say you should change your mind. As someone who has been a manager in the past, I know that changing your mind about a decision is probably not going to happen. What I would like for you to do is bring someone on the paper that restores the balance of the newspaper more toward the center.

I think you have made a mistake. I also think you can make-up for the mistake. Unfortunately I will have to read about you correcting the mistake on another website.

Thank you for you work. You were able to articulate sane views that you could back up w/ facts. Most issues are gray and should be debated, except Torture. It is hard believe so many of my countrymen support Torture. When I read the Krauthammer op-ed, I said, I done w/ the Post. Then I came back to read your work and I said, I will take the very good w/ the very bad. Now I am glad you will be gone, so I can boycott something I no faith in.

Unbelievable. Dan has been one of the only sources that I could trust to speak truth to power, regardless of who's in office. WaPo's political news office would be wise to stop whining and take a good look in the mirror at what they've become. Good luck WaPo, you lost another everyday reader.

Be sure to read all the comments from Glenn G.'s Salon post. You will be encouraged to continue the excellent work you have shared with the WaPo online.

What is "not working" with the Post will expand and thrive on another site, if you keep writing the exact same way. As a measure, please keep track of the increase in hits on your new site, and publicize the new site as soon as you know it. Many will be interested in knowing the loss of traffic to WaPo.com vs the increase on your new site.

I'll just add what most people have written since the announcement, the public can handle the truth. Thank you for being a reliable voice of reality.

The biggest embarassment to power is not the crime, it's the cover-up. For example, saying the US does not torture doesn't mean the US does not torture. Especially if the facts belie the government's statements. Reporting the truth is still essential to many of us and you, Dan, are a valuable voice for publicizing the truth. Right, left, democrat, republican, no matter, the truth shines its light on all equally. Just as you, Dan, report the truth wherever it leads.

Fire Froomkin, give Wolfowitz a podium, hire Kristol, increase coverage of swim teams- so the paper of Watergate has come to this. Revenue continues to drop and management obviously doesn't have a clue how to turn things around. Help put them out of their misery- cancel your subscription so the paper hits bottom that much sooner. The NY Times - you know, the paper with enough sense to show Bill Kristol the door - has a great subscription deal. Check it out at http://www.subscription-offers.com/newspapers/new-york-times/

Dan, I am very sorry you're leaving the Post. You are one of the few people in the country that covers certain issues, and I think your work is invaluable. I admire what you've done, and I look forward to reading your work wherever it is published.

Over the last few years, since I discovered your work, I've read it daily. It's often made me uncomfortable, because of your relentless focus on the failings - policy and moral failings - of the last administration. At times, it's been depressing.

That tells me you've done a terrific job. Like most of the others who've written here, I'll miss you. The Post will be poorer for your absence.

Where is the Washington Post that had the b...., excuse me, the guts to pursue the Watergate story, no matter where it led? Where is the Washington Post that was a beacon, not a thermometer?

Dan, I have valued your contributions from the time I was introduced to your blog. More, I value your scrutiny of the Obama administration. While my views, and, I suspect, yours, are reflected far more in this administration than in the last, scrutiny and skepticism are essential. What your soon-to-be former employer does not seem to understand is that scrutiny and skepticism can be achieved intelligently, without stridency, and without opposing every utterance and policy of the administration.

That whooshing sound that you will hear when you leave is your readers going with you. Best of luck, and let us know where to find you.

Dan will end up on the New York Times, the only newspaper left in the country riding the tide of change with truth-seekers. As opposed to foot-draggers, which is all the conservative voices amount to now that their loot-the-country-and-make-war-on-the-world idea of governance has failed to inspire public confidence. Vested corporate political influence has been steadily turning the U.S. into a nation of landlords and serfs, and of course the landlords, which include most of Congress, don't want a change. The only way it will happen is if the people demand it. We remaining newspaper readers (chiefly liberals, by the way) can start by demanding the Post rehire Froomkin, or give us a credible reason--other than a biased political agenda--for terminating his contract. Then try to give us a reason to continue reading their newspaper. Washington Post, where art thou?

Remember the 100-monkey theory? The Japanese conducted an experiment in Indonesia which involved feeding sweet potatoes to tribes of monkeys on a string of islands in Indonesia (don't ask me why). One day, a young female monkey took her sweet potato to the stream to wash it off, instead of eating it covered with sand. Soon other monkeys were doing it, and when the 100th monkey joined in, monkeys on all the islands suddenly started washing their sweet potatoes. All except for 25% of the monkeys, who correspond to our white male political/corporate elite, and who consistently refused ever to bother with cleaning what they ate.

This is exactly why I canceled my subscription to my newspaper. There was no one who wrote news anymore. All the important things were ignored and garbage was all that the newspaper had. I had to go online to learn about what was going on in the world. Newspapers used to give us some news anyway. Today Watergate wouldn't even make the back page, because you fire all the real reporters and keep a bunch of lackys.

"Today Watergate wouldn't even make the back page, because you fire all the real reporters and keep a bunch of lackys."

Slight correction.

Our most recent "Watergate", the obvious lies told in the run up to war with Iraq, made it to page A-17, IIRC.

Unlike Watergate, with its Deep Throat and clandestine meetings in parking garages, all the facts this time were laid out for any reporter to piece together if they could only tear themselves away from beltway dinner parties and book signings over cocktails.

Only Dan (who could only be found via floodlights and hunting dogs on the WAPO website) consistently spoke truth to power during those dark times, while the editorial page served as unquestioning cheerleaders for Darth's warmongering administration.

Instead of being fired, his work should be serving as source material for upcoming war crimes trials.

This is incredibly disappointing. Froomkin's blog has continued to evolve and he's still doing outstanding work both collecting and assimilating others' posts and writing his own take, which quite often is unique -- and too often correct -- in its analysis (i.e, unconventional).

Thanks for getting us through the last 8 years. Best of luck at your next tap into the series of tubes.

I think your firing leaves the WaPo at a tipping point: one small opinion piece from the likes of Congressman Tom Price or Senator Sam Brownback will cause the whole thing to collapse into a newspaper blackhole, from which no light will escape.

Oh, this is awful. The Ombudsman's report noted that interest in White House Watch diminished with the coming of the new administration, and that may be true in the short term. After all, there was, all of a sudden, fewer White House stupidities to reveal and read about. But a great newspaper becomes great by maintaining high standards so that the public can be educated, even through the times that the public isn't paying so much attention. This is so the resources are in place for those "teachable moments" in the course of events that make reputations, win loyal readers, and help change history. Doubtless such moments will come with Obama, too, but now the Post will be significantly less able to detect or take advantage of them. What a shame for all of us.

Dan, you helped keep me sane during the long nightmare that was W, much as Mary McGrory did in the age of Reagan. I can give no higher praise. Thank you.

May you wind up at McClatchy, which I learned about from you, and which seems to be the last best hope for real reporting on the national scene. Best of luck: we'll keep reading if you keep writing.

I just spit out my coffee at the news. No wonder US journalism is in such trouble with boneheaded moves like this. Mr. Editor: Count me among those who will spend more time with your competitors after Dan is gone. Mr. Advertiser: You'll just waste your money trying to reach the shrinking audience that the Post seems to be courting. And Dan: I'll be one of your loyal followers. You have done a great job, and fulfilled all the ideals of journalism. Man o' man, this really ruins the day.

I am so sorry that this is Froomkin's last post. I am so sorry for what Fred Hiatt has done to the Post, and I suppose, for the way Don Graham has betrayed the institution that was entrusted to him. After all, ex-Washington Star guy Fred Hiatt is a neo-con, so his loyalty to Reagan/Bushies is not surprising. Graham should have known better. It will be interesting to see what happens to this paper. It will be missed.

Well, I guess it shows where the tender spots are in the editorial psyche. You can criticize presidents all you want, but expose Charles Krauthammer's neo-conservative rants as rationally bankrupt in print and you're gone!

I don't consider myself a liberal, but I will miss this column. Dan Froomkin is, for me, the clearest, most rational voice of the American "left" I've found in any mainstream news organization I read. The Post will be much less interesting and informative without his voice.

Dan Never missed a column..you will be missed here but I will find you at your new location when you tell us where to go...
I will also let Wash Post know of my disappointment with their handling of you.
Richard